Emergency vault and safe lock



n. J. CONDON. EMERGENCY VAULT AND SAFE LOCK.

- APPLI CATION FILED JAN. 17. I921.

Patented Nov. 29, 1921..

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

- D. J. CONDON.

EMERGENCY VAULT AND SAFE LOCK.

' APPLICATION FILED IAN. 11. 1921.

Vault and Safe UNITED STA TES - DAVID .1. common, or KENWOOD PARK, Iowa.

PATENTO FFICE.

' EMERGENCY VAULT AND SAFE LOCK.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patent d N 29 1921 Application filed January 17, 1921. Serial No. 437,804.

I To all whom it may concern:

locking mechanism normally held out of engagement with the bolt-work in such a manner as to be automatically released when the primary lock is tampered with so as to lock the bolt-work of the safe or vault when the primary lock is tampered with in any way.

A further object of the invention is to provide an emergency vault andsafe lock which is so constructed that the same can be read-' ily attached to the door of any of the well known makes of vaults and safes without drilling the safe door in any way, the auxiliary locking mechanism consisting of a pair of locking arms pivotally mounted upon a suitable support and geared together so as to cause the same to work in unison and adapted to engage the bolt-work when released in order to prevent the bolt-work from being operated if the primary lock should be removed or tampered with in anyway.

Another and further object of the invention is to provide novelmeans for holding the locking arms in raised positionout of the path of movement of the bolt-work so that the bolt-work of the safe or vault door can be operated in the ordinary manner without danger of releasing the locking. arms and lock the bolt-work accidentally.

Another and further object of the invention is to provide novelmeans for locking the arms in horizontal position when released in order to prevent the arms from being moved upwardly by a yegg if the primary lock should be burnt ofi'. I

Other and further objects and advantages of the invention will behereinafter set forth and the novel features thereofdefinedby the ap ended claims.

ith these objects in view, 7 Figure 1 is a rear elevation of a safe or vault door showing the application of my improved construct on of emergency lock in raised position ready to be dropped if the prlmary lock is tampered with;

1 1g. 21s a detailelevation partly in sect10n, showing the emergency lock in locked position; 7 I

Fig. 3 is a ers ective view of thes t detached; p p uppor Fig. 4 is a perspective view of one of the lock ng arms and weight carried thereby;

Fig.6 1s a perspective view of a slightly.

mod fied form of support; I

F 1g. 6 is anelevation of a form of support adapted to be used on a vault door construction in which the central bar is omitted showing the support mounted on one of the bolts; Fig. 7 is a section taken on line 7-7 of 'Fig. 6;

Fig. 8 is a detail perspective view of a slightly modified form of bridge member for the primary lock; and l F 1g. 9 1s a detail perspective view showing means for supporting the lockingarms when arranged below primary lock.

In the drawing 1 indicates the door-case the bridge member of, the.

of the safe or-vault, 2the vault or safe door which is herein shown provided with a mar ginal flange 3 having openings 4 to receive the horizontally disposed locking .bolts 5 which are connected together adjacent their ends by tie bars 6 so as. to cause the bolts to work in unison. ..A "centra1 vertically di s posed bar 7 is. arranged between the frame provided with openings through which the, bolts 5 pass which constitutes the ordinary construction of vault or safe door now in use.

The door is provided with the usual combination lock 8 andboltshifter 9. by means of which the bolts 5 are'moved back and forth inorder to lock and unlock the door in the usual manner and the particular construction 'of combination lock and boltshifter employed, forms no part-of my invention, as myimpro-ved construction of emergency lock-1s capable ofbeing used in connection with all of the well knownmakes of .combinationlocks now in use on safe and :vault doors. The above descrlptlon 1s given so that the operation of my improved construction of emergencylock can be readily understood when applied to a vault or. safe door. i

My improved-construction of emergency 199k amp a pper? $9 is th channel member adapted to embrace the centrally disposed bar 7 of the door and be secured in position by set screws 11 said support being provided with a'reduced portion 12 having threaded openings 13 in which are arranged stud bolts Aron which are pivotally mounted the enlarged end portions 15, and 16 of locking arms 17 and 18, SZLlCl arms being ofiset as shownat 19 and and provided with adjustably mounted weights 21'and 22 adjacent their ends, .the free-ends provided with a lip 25. which is engaged by the bottom portion 26 ofthe enlarged portion of the arm 17 in order to hold the arms in horizontal position and to limit the downward movement of the arms.

The offsetportions 19 and of the arms are adapted to engage the shoulders 27 formed by the reduced portion12 of the support in order to limit the upward movement of the arms. I v

Extending across'the combination lock and bolt-shifter is a bridge member 28 herein.

shown inthe form of a wire having one of its ends connected to the combination lock and the other end to the marginal frame 3, saidbridge member being formed of such a materialthat if the combination lock is burnt by an oily-acetylene torch, the same will fuse or if the combination lock is blown off. bodily, the bridge member will be removed from a horizontal position so as to allow the emergency lock to be set into :operation as will be hereinafter fully'described. In order to hold the arms'in raised position as shown in Fig. 1, I provide thearm '18 with a socket 29 into which extends the upper end of a steel rod 30,:the lower end being provided with a compound bend 3l, the hook portion formed thereby being adapted to embracethe bridge member 28 and hold the arms in raised position" out of the path or travel of the tie bars of the bolt-shiftenf .Pivotally mounted on a stud 32 secured to the support 10 is a pivoted gravity dog 33 which is adapted to engage a projection 34 formed on the arm 17 when the locking arms are dropped into horizontal position so. as to lock the arms in this position and prevent the same from being raisedby the yegg through the medium oi. instruments inserted through the hole formed in the safe or vault door bythe removal of the, primary combinationlocl: or in any other way.

V hen. the emergency icon s ns vault orsafe door, ascrew'35 is placed on the inner side of the door at a certain point by measurements which are made of record and to this screw wires 36 and 37 are fastened which have their free ends connected respectively to the weight 21 of the arm,1 7' and the gravity locking dog 33 so that after. the emergency lock has been set by'the tampering with of the main or primary lock; a suitable opening can be bored through the safe door andthe wires grasped in order to raise the arms and'gravity dog in order to release the emergency lock and allow the door to be opened. V j In use the innerface of the dooris inclosed by a suitable coveringA or a calendar is hung on theinner faceot' the door so as to cover the. emergency look so that no one would be aware of its existence when the safe or vault door is left open.

In the modification shown in Fig '5' the support 38 is constructed. to be usedon a vault door having a narrow central bar and is adapted to carry the usual locking arms and pivoted dog. i

In Fig. 6 I haveshown a support 3 9-especially adapted to be used on a vault doorconstructod without a centrally disposed bar, the supporthaving a socket 40 to receive one of the bolts 510i thedoor for suspending the same thereon said support beingse cured in position upon the bolt by a set screw 4-1. 2 In this construction the' lower end of the support 39 is provided with threaded bosses 42 to rece ve studs on wh ch the pivoted arms are mounted, and the support car- 'ries a lockingdog for engaging one of the V seated on the bridge member 47, the lower end of the support 45 being provided with af hook portion 48 adaptedto extendinto a socket t?) formed in one of the locking'arins Mend it will be seen that by this construcr tion that when the bridge member is displaced the locking arms will be released so that they will drop by gravity and lock. the

bolt-work of the safe or vault door.

The operation oi the emergencylook, as herein. shown is as follows: Assuming that the emergency lock is in the position shown in Fig. 1 with the bridge member spanning the combination and bolt-shifter'of the safe or vault door, ifthe Combination lock is tam 'pered wither excessive heat applied to the be removed bodily from over the combina tion lock, which releases the support which drops by gravity from under the locking arms. When the locking arms drop, which are accelerated by the weights carried thereby, the free ends engage the tie bars of the bolts so that the bolts cannot be moved. As the locking arms drop by gravity, the grav ity dog falls by gravity into engagement with the projection on one of the arms and locks the same so as to prevent the arms from being moved upwardly until the dog is moved out of engagement with the pro ection of the arm.

As the support is moved from under the locking arm provided with a socket, this arm moves downwardly by gravity and as the teeth carried thereby are enmeshed with the teeth of the companion arm, the two arms move in unison until the lip of the arm engages the shoulder formed by the other arm which limits the downward move ment so as to hold the arms in the horizontal position shown in Fig. 2. i Q

After the emergency lock has been released by some unscrupulous person tampering with the primary lock of the safe or vault door, in order to release the emergency lock it is only necessary to bore'a hole through the vault door at a point determined by the measurements previously taken and pull upwardly on the wires which will raise the. locking arms out of engagement with the tie bars of the bolts.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that I have provided an emergency look so constructed that it can be applied to any of the well known makes of vaults or safe doors now in use and composed of a pair of locking arms geared together and held in raised position by a movable support mounted upon a separable member spanning the primary lock of the vault or safe door inIsuoh a manner that the arms will be released so as to form a positive lock for the safe or vault door when the primary lock is tampered with.

What I claim is 1. The combination with a safe and the door therefor having locking mechanism in cluding a combination lock and bolt work, of a pair of gravity locking arms carried by the door, a bridgevmember spanning said locking mechanism,- a support-for holding said locking arms mounted upon said bridge member and means forlocking said arms in horizontal position against the bolt-work when released by said support.

2. The combination with a safehaving a door provided with locking mechanism including a combination lock and bolt-work, of a support carried by said door, pivoted arms mounted upon said support provided with meshing gears, means for limiting the downward movement of said locking arms,

a bridge member spanning the combination lock .of said door, a supporting member mounted upon said bridge member engaging one'of said arms, for holding said arms in raised position, and apivoted gravitydog carried by said support engaging one of said lock of said door, a supporting member mounted upon said bridge member engaging one of said arms for holding said arms in raised position, a pivoted gravity dogcarried by said support engaging one of said arms for holding said arms with the ends against said bolt-work when released by said supporting member, and means connected to one of said arms and said gravity dog for raising said dog and said arms.

4:. An auxiliary locking mechanism for safe doors comprising a support adapted to" be carried by the door, said support being provided with stud bolts, of a pair of arms pivotally mounted upon said stud bolts provided with meshing teeth for causing said arms to move in unison, means for limiting the swinging movement of'said arms in both directions, a gravity locking dog carried by said support adapted to engage the projection on one of said arms for holding said arms in horizontal position, and separable means for holding said arms in raised position.

5. The combination with a safe door having a main locking mechanism including. a combination lock and bolt-work therefor, of a support having means for fastening the same to the door, said support being pro vided with stud bolts, of a pair of weighted arms pivotally mounted upon said stud bolts provided with meshing gears, one of said arms being provided with a projection, said arms being arranged to engage the boltwork of said door when in horizontal position, a gravity locking dog carried by said support adapted toengage the projection of said arm when said arms are moved into horizontal position, .a bridge member spanning said combination lock, and a support detachably mounted'upon said bridge memher having its free end in engagement with 'one of said arms for holding said arms in raised position.

In testimony whereof I hereunto afiix my signature;

' Y Dav n LCONDON. 

